I have done battle with Manchester's rush hour traffic and survived. Plus as I am now actually doing a higher daily mileage and will be cycling too and from work 5 days a week regardless of the weather etc things are really starting to pick up.
I feel like I am getting stronger everyday however my bike will probably creak you a different story, such a high mileage is starting to take its toll on my wonderful home built and badly maintained road machine. The bottom bracket desperately needs replacing as it is really starting to rock side to side with each pedal stroke and of course this is causing the chain to rub and make a noise. In short my energy is not being transferred to the back wheel as efficiently as it could be and I end up really working very hard for sod all power output!
It is however doing my training wonders to regularly ride a good daily distance. I no longer get scowled at as I come into the office before I go and get changed (I have recently changed job) and I don't have to pay for parking like the rest of the loonies that drive into Manchester.
The ride in is really nice actually. I basically go flying down one long straight(ish) road (the A57) almost all the way into Manchester. My journey only punctuated by traffic lights and the need to use the shared use bridge at the end of the M67. Only a totally suicidal lunatic would attempt to navigate the roundabout at the end of the M67/M60. This is bad enough when you are in a car never mind on a bike. there are a few Strava segments on the way too (see my best effort from this week below)
I got loads of personal records and have since even improved on those too!
This weekend though it is down to some serious stuff!
Saturday is a day of having fun with the family, Evie has a birthday to go to then I am taking Rosie to the park as Evie goes to the cinema with her big cousins. Then back home for a good dinner and early to bed as Sunday is going to prove without a doubt the hardest ride I have undertaken so far! The thing we do for enjoyment.
Anyway its going to be an obscenely early start in the morning, I haven't worked out what time yet but I do know I have to be up there and ready to sign on by 06.30 (who comes up with these timings?) then about 07.30 to 08.00 setting off on which should and probably will prove to be a very long hard hilly and testing 160km (100 mile) route around them there hills. Look at it like this, if Sir Bradley (I've got loads of Olympic gold and silver medals plus I have a Yellow Tour de France jersey and these hills are my back yard) Wiggins uses them to train on and loved to go for a little leg stretch on them in his spare time, then it must be a good route that stretches a rider in ways you never thought possible.
In short I think this one may hurt a bit! However it won't stop me riding to work every day next week. Come next Friday I will have cycled close to 200 miles in the space of 6 days. Not bad going I would think, however I really don't want to think about it now (realising how daunting a task this is... what am I doing???). I am just going to relax, enjoy it and smash my 100 mile time that I did on the Cheshire cat. I want to knock off at least 30 minutes but I feel I may be hard pressed!
Hopefully my next post will be the tails of the big ride with plenty of pictures (should I ever find the charger for the camera).
Until then I will be attempting to sort my bike out and thinking of what I can do next!!
The ride after this being the Manchester 100 on September 1st of course..... Hurrah!
Happy cycling and stay safe!
By the way as I now have a very international audience including readers from Japan, Russia, France, Belgium and all over the place. I have now included a translation widget. For the foreign readers amongst you please check it out and let me know what you think :)
No comments:
Post a Comment